3 The charges [7] Before dealing with the merits of the appeal against sentence the procedure adopted in this case at the plea stage of the trial must be considered. As stated above, only one charge, that of possession of child pornography, was put to the appellant. No other charge and, in particular, no charge of distributing child pornography appears in the record. [8] In his plea statement, the appellant set out the facts on which his plea of guilty to distribution was based. The appellant admitted the stated facts. They were that the appellant had distributed 65 contents of child pornography on a social media account on Instagram during 2016, six (6) months before his arrest in this case. [9] The charge sheet in the record, form J15, states that the appellant was arrested on 24 August 2017, and refers to Annexure A thereto for the charge against the appellant. Annexure A alleges that the appellant was guilty of contravening section 24B(1)(a) of the Act, in that he possessed 4489 contents of child pornography, as tabulated, on 24 August 2017 at Elandspark. This was the charge put to him at his trial. [10] The other references in the charge sheet to the charge against the appellant are: [11] At the appellant’s first appearance in court on 25 August 2017, the prosecutor told the court that the charge was possession and distribution of child pornography. [12] At the postponement on 8 May 2018, the appellant’s attorney told the court that the appellant did not dispute possession of the material.

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